Zé Roberto and Bernardinho to continue ahead of Brazil for Los Angeles 2028

The winningest head coaches in Brazilian volleyball history, José ‘Zé Roberto’ Guimarães and Bernardo ‘Bernardinho’ Rezende will continue in charge of the country’s women’s and men’s national teams for at least another four years as the Brazilian Federation announced the extension of their contracts until the end of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Besides coaching the country’s senior national teams, Zé Roberto and Bernardinho will both accumulate the role of national team technical coordinators, overseeing the entire women’s and men’s programs in Brazil and having direct involvement with the youth national teams—the two of them have been in these positions since they were created in 2023.

Zé Roberto, who celebrated his 70^th birthday during the Paris Olympics, just over a month ago, has been in charge of Brazil’s women’s national team since 2003. He led the team into six Olympics and won four medals, taking gold in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, silver in Tokyo 2020 and bronze in Paris 2024.

The coach, who also won an Olympic gold with the country’s men’s national team back in Barcelona 1992, has also led the Brazilians to several other podium finishes in major international events, including four medals at the FIVB World Championship, three at the Volleyball Nations League and 14, including nine golds, at the FIVB World Grand Prix.

“I’m very motivated and excited for this next cycle,” he said. “We have a tall and talented generation, which will work hard for the results. I’ve always been strongly connected with our youth teams and we’ll try to give them even stronger technical foundations over the next years. The federation’s training facility in La Moselle, France, will also give them more opportunities to play other national teams. International volleyball is extremely even now, but we have what it takes to continue among the best in the world.”

In 2025, besides leading Brazil in the Volleyball Nations League, Zé Roberto and Bernardinho will try to guide their teams to success at the World Championships, which will have the women playing in Thailand and the men competing in the Philippines.

Bernardinho, 65, had a remarkable run at the helm of Brazil’s men’s national team from 2001 to 2016, winning four straight Olympic medals – gold in Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 and silver in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 -, as well as three World Championship and eight FIVB World League titles.

He returned to his head coach position at the end of the 2023 season, when Renan Dal Zotto stepped down, and had the team finish seventh at the VNL 2024 and eighth at the Paris Olympics. As the coach of the country’s men’s national team from 1994 to 2000, he won another two Olympic medals, getting bronze in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

“I was very excited with the federation’s invitation to continue my work as the technical coordinate and head coach of the senior team,” Bernardinho reacted. “We have many talented young players and integrating them with the senior team is crucial for the goals we want to accomplish. This season, we resumed our project with the national team B, which is important for them to acquire some valuable international experience. There are many teams at a very high level in international volleyball now and we need to work to separate ourselves.”